The Carnarvon Distributed Energy Resources (DER) trials have achieved a key milestone, with the installation of solar PV and battery systems in participants' properties.
Ten trial participants recruited through the competition held in the town last year, have received a DER system consisting of solar panels, a solar inverter, battery and battery inverter, DER control technology and a Wattwatchers device so they can monitor their system performance.
In addition six other trial participants on the Gibson feeder have received battery systems to augment their existing PV systems.
In return for the equipment they are giving us three years access to their system so that we can test DER visibility and control, how much of their renewable energy they use in their house, how they could use the battery to manage their peak demand and save money on their electricity bill and how we can communicate with their PV and battery system to achieve orchestration of these assets as part of network optimisation.
Each of the participants' systems is fitted with monitor and control technology that allows us to gather PV and battery performance data which we marry together with weather data, power station performance and network operation data.
Analysis of the data collected from the participant's DER systems is already providing valuable insight into the way fluctuations in solar PV generation is impacting on network operation.
Researchers from Murdoch University's School of Engineering and Information Technology (our academic partners for the trials) are analysing the data and developing control strategies to better manage the PV and battery systems.
Visit the Carnarvon DER trials project page on our website for more information.